Lack of zoning, building codes keeps our county behind times

Fifty years is a long time. That’s how long I’ve waited, in vain, for the Jeff Davis County Commission to implement county-wide planning, county-wide building codes, county-wide visions for Jeff Davis County.
Fifty years ago, when I first moved here, I was surprised that this county wasn’t up to date with 20th century governing norms. Now we’re in the 21st century and we’re still lagging behind.
At Tuesday night’s County Commission meeting a citizen expressed his concern that a mobile home park (euphemism for “trailer park”) was encroaching on his property.
Some time back, in the same area, someone hauled in a couple of mobile homes into the area and citizens flooded into a county commission meeting to object.
None of that would have happened if the county had zoning regulations to protect citizens’ property.
Some 20 years ago, citizens flooded into a county commission meeting to complain about a laying chicken operation in their neighborhood. Flies were everywhere around their homes creating unsightly damage to their property.
The problem in that case was not that a laying chicken operation encroached on their residences but, rather, that people built homes near a long-ago established chicken laying operation.
Those people should have never been allowed to build residences next to a huge chicken house but, with no zoning in our county, they built their homes unaware that a chicken operation would make their lives miserable.
The same type of lack of foresight has led to the current state of people being dissatisfied with solar companies installing solar panels that encroach on their properties. If the county commission had properly prepared for growth here, that would never have been a problem.
The Heart of Georgia/Altamaha Regional Planning Commission stands ready to help counties properly plan for organized growth. The City of Hazlehurst has, for decades, taken advantage of that help. But our county commission has, for years, resisted providing our citizens with proper, organized, reasonable growth.
Our taxes pay for the regional planning commission. I wish we would take advantage of what we’ve paid for.